Once the site is cleaned up, the Whitlocks must still declare the contamination to potential buyers.

"We can't ever see anything at the end of the rainbow here," she said.

The slow process for remediating the site has angered others in the community, with location on the main drag surrounded by chain link fences and at time bulldozers and mounds of dirt.

Though the Gas Plus located at 6336 Bowness Rd. N.W. was privately owned at the time of the spill in 2010, the province took over the cleanup and remediation process in 2014.

The cost is estimated to be upwards of $4.3 million, said Craig Knaus, compliance manager with Alberta Parks and Environment.

'Still the responsibility of the polluter'

The takeover of the site, a first for the province, was precipitated by a change to the Environmental Protection Enhancement Act in 2014 that stated if a recipient of an environmental protection order does not take the proper steps for cleanup, the province can take over the remediation process.

"Not that we're assuming the liability or the risk … it's still the responsibility of the polluter, but to get the environment made whole again, we have the ability to take that over," Knaus said.